World | al-Qaeda in Iraq Al-Qaeda in Iraq Plots Comeback as US Departs Disgruntled Awakening forces offered raises to switch sides again By Kevin Spak Posted Aug 11, 2010 7:00 AM CDT Copied In this Saturday, March 28, 2009 file photo Awakening Council members stand guard in the Dora area of southern Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo/Loay Hameed, File) Al-Qaeda in Iraq is trying to make a comeback, by luring Awakening Council fighters to defect. Awakening leaders tell the Guardian that the terrorist group is offering to pay its fighters more than the $300 a month militia members get from the government. One says he believes 100 of his 1,800 fighters have defected, because they haven’t claimed their salaries in two months. For al-Qaeda, the time is ripe. The US is leaving, and the country’s politicians still haven’t formed a government, even though the election was five months ago. The mostly Sunni Awakening fighters, meanwhile, have frequently felt neglected by the Shiite-dominated government. “It is an easy market for al-Qaeda now,” says another Awakening leader. “The Iraqi government has disappointed them, and it is an easy choice to rejoin the terrorists.” Read These Next He heckled President Trump, is now $430K richer. Dems and Republicans team up to block Trump on Greenland. Joe Rogan is once again breaking with Trump. Officials say ICE agent who shot Renee Good had internal bleeding. Report an error